With the ever increasing need to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, there has been a growing emphasis on the safe handling and disposal of medical waste and particularly the needles utilized with hypodermic syringes. It is extremely important to protect medical personnel and others who are required to administer hypodermic injections from inadvertent or accidental "stick" injuries. This protection is also required by those who must dispose of medical waste by-products, including the hypodermic syringes and needles, from accidental "stick" injuries which can occur by the improper or accidental handling of such waste products.
In an effort to provide increased safety and prevent the spread of infectious disease, small incinerating devices have been developed in recent years which are specifically designed for destroying hypodermic syringe needles and the like. Most of these incinerating devices have been designed to be portable, and most operate on conventional 110 volt AC outlet current so that the units may be plugged into a conventional outlet. With these, and other, prior art devices, a needle may be destroyed immediately after its use by inserting the needle, while still attached to the hypodermic syringe, into the incinerating apparatus where heat or electricity is utilized to thermally neutralize biohazardous materials, and melt or disintegrate the needle. Some examples of such prior art incinerators are found in U.S. Pat. No.: 4,628,169 to Ching-Lung; U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,934 to Spinello: U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,426 to Colombo; U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,529 to Kudo; U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,621 to Butler; U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,125 to Salesses; U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,428 to Grevill, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,964 to Walker, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,752 to Elmerick, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,862 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,928 to Yelvington; U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,355 to Haines et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,404 to Descent; U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,267 to Yanobu; U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,709 to Champion, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,877,469 to Truesdale, et al.
In many of these prior art incinerators, a pair of electrodes are engageable by a needle inserted into the incinerator housing. An electric arc is established through the needle, destroying the needle at temperatures of 1,000 degrees or higher, with the disintegration occurring substantially instantaneously. In some of the prior art incinerators, small fans are utilized to exhaust the by-products of combustion to the ambient atmosphere. To prevent the release of airborne contaminants or pathogens, which may remain in the gaseous material, some prior art devices utilize a filter element to filter the air before it is exhausted from the incinerator apparatus.
Unfortunately, prior art needle incinerating units have not met with acceptance by practitioners in the health care industry. For one thing, incinerating devices have not proven to be sufficiently capable of ensuring that all exhaust from the incinerating devices is purified to prevent smoke, toxins, trace metal contaminates, and airborne pathogens from being discharged to the atmosphere. many healthcare professionals do not want to place any type of incinerating apparatus within an enclosed area where people may be exposed to the exhaust.
Another disadvantage in prior art needle incinerators is the need to adjust the incinerator electrodes or contacts depending upon the type of needle which is to be destroyed. In many prior art incinerators, the electrodes for contacting the needle are fixed relative to one another or flexible relative to one another, so as to ensure contact with varying lengths of needles. In other prior art devices, gauges or dedicated entrance ports are utilized to accommodate different diameter needles. Also, prior art needle incinerators have not been adequately designed to cooperatively destroy needles associated with differing sizes of hypodermic syringes.
One other disadvantage associated with most prior art needle incinerators is the inability to clean electrodes without disassembly. In particular, after several needles have been disintegrated, a residue forms on the edges of the electrodes which degrades the performance of the disintegration process, and often provides a load on the battery that causes the battery to discharge. If left uncleaned, this buildup of combustion by-products, residue and debris may render the incinerator inoperative.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need to increase the operating performance, safety characteristics, self-cleaning treatment characteristics, and adaptability of needle incinerators.